New Skills

I wanted to make gluten-free bread as a surprise for Mary’s birthday, thinking how hard could it be?

Turns out it’s a *lot* different from the baking I’m used to. Thank goodness for the “5 Minutes A Day” gluten-free book!

First you make your own “flour”,

then mix the dough (it looks/feels more like paste than dough) 

and let rise (it smells like yeast bread but doesn’t rise as much).

Then push it into shape with wet fingers (there’s no stretch to the dough at all),

let it rise again, slash and bake. 

It doesn’t look like much 

but Mary said it tasted very good - and asked for more. Hooray!

Maybe I’ll try the GF cinnamon rolls next . . .

He’s 3!

Look who turned 3 on Friday!

He’s getting so big and handsome, 

said the very proud and biased grandma. 

Happy birthday, Big D!

And many happy returns. 

Baker Baby

I think Donovan may have a future as a baker - 

he really got into his work when we made this batch of focaccia -

and wore himself right out. 

He barely had time to put his babies (Blue, T Rex and Jackie’s Peanut Butter) in a row on their pillow before he passed out. Be sure to turn up the sound . . . 

Napping

Jac and Donovan were unhappy about who got to sleep next to grandma at nap time 

so they fell asleep on top of each other. Silly bunnies. 

Penultimate

We celebrated Leanne’s next-to-last day of spring break with a trip to our favorite zoo.

It felt like family-day everywhere we looked.

Not only was it crowded with human families, 

 That’s one super relaxed cat

even with the reservation system in place, 

but we saw a mom, dad and baby tower,

a family pride (baby Pauline is getting so big!),

and a flock of rocking flamingos (they were settling in for their afternoon nap.) 

Lots of construction projects are well underway and some of the girls’ favorite animals are gone (elephants, American alligator) or off exhibit (otters, reptiles and Chinese alligator), 

but there’s still room to run and play so they were content. 

And just to make sure, we stopped by the zoo gift shop and the Disney outlet store on the way home. Not that they’re spoiled or anything . . . 

Plan B

We had reservations for another whale watching trip today, taking advantage of Leanne’s week off for spring break, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Again. 

 Jac decided on six rainbow ponytails today

Seas rough enough that the boat was eventually canceled was not how we wanted to introduce Jac to the ocean, 

so we instead headed north for ostriches, emus and pastries. 

The birds weren’t very interested in feeding - 

they’d been eating steadily since 9 am one employee told us - 

so most just ignored us altogether.

Which was fine with Jac. 

She tried feeding one set of emus, 

and she liked the baby emu that was about her size, 

but overall she’d rather just watch Leanne and Pop get close to the feathered dinosaurs. 

We wandered around Solvang for a bit, 

eating ice cream, dancing in the (blocked off) streets, 

visiting the Pendleton store and standing in a sloooow line to get the very last apple strudel for Pop. 

All in all, a very nice day. Even if it was Plan B. 

Hoppity

Hoppy Easter to all y’all who celebrate. 

 Donovan and Leia 

 Leanne 

 Jaclyn 


 Travis and Isaac 

 Addison

Challah

Made my first ever loaf of challah.

My braiding skills need practice but it tasted DEElicious.

This is my second bucket of dough and my first try at the slightly fancier egg breads.

The first bucket/batch, using the book’s “master recipe”, lasted just over a week and was enough to make focaccia, loaf and freeform breads. 

Because this recipe uses eggs, this batch will only be good in the fridge for a week. I’m thinking another challah . . . and beignets . . . and maybe something stuffed with chocolate. So many choices. 

BunBun Girls

Fortunately for me, Marie also signed up for baby bunny pics with Jac and Leanne. 

So sweet.

Happy (almost) Easter!